The Brown Brick Road

Capturing our adventures one photo at a time...

more BIG stuff

First the BIG boy bed and now my BIG boy got a BIG boy haircut!

Before…

before hair

and after!

after hair

It was pretty darn shaggy before and, even though it does make him look older, I’m loving his cleaned up do!  I’m thinking maybe he can hear better too without all that hair hanging over his ears!  🙂

The blog has been pretty Maxwell focused this week and I don’t want you to think I’m ignoring Spencey.  He’s still here and doing awesome things like this…

toes

Yep.  Not walking yet but he can suck on his toes!  Talent!

See you tomorrow!

Putting out fires

It’s only Wednesday but work has been crazy this week.  It’s been the type of week where you get that terrible phone call or email and then off you go, putting out fires.  I was ready for Friday by Monday afternoon!!

Luckily I’ve got this cute little guy helping me put out fires.

fire

fire

fire

fire

Can’t wait until I can say “Fire’s Out!” about my work emergencies just like he does about his emergencies!

Big boy bed!

BIG news around here!  My BIG boy has finally moved into his BIG boy bed!  Yes, my almost 3.5 year old was still sleeping in his crib and we both loved it.  I think he felt safe and secure and, frankly, I loved that he couldn’t get out of bed whenever he wanted!  🙂  But, when Maxwell finally said on Sunday that he wanted to sleep in his BIG boy bed, I said “let’s do it!”  So, we laid some ground rules about staying in his bed (or at least his room!) until his clock turned green, snuggled him in and went for it!

big boy bed

big boy bed

Overall, he did great.  It was a bit bumpy at first – Maxwell kept wanting to get another truck, grab more books, really do anything but go to sleep and then I heard him yelling “hayulp!” in his little southern accent and went in to find this…

big boy bed

Not the first time this has happened but it still makes me laugh!  After a rough start, he did actually fall asleep and took a great nap!

big boy bed

He slept again in his BIG boy bed that night and slept all night!  yay!  Didn’t fall out, didn’t wet the bed…go Maxwell go!!

big boy bed

My baby is growing up.  sniff sniff.

Just a little more Disney

Happy Monday!  What a GORGEOUS and FUN weekend we had. Pictures to come but first I need to close out the Disney trip!

After Friday at the Magic Kingdom and Saturday at Hollywood Studios, we finished the trip on Sunday at Animal Kingdom.  This was actually my first trip ever to Animal Kingdom and, while I don’t feel the need to go each time I visit Disney, it was fun – especially for my animal loving 3 year old!

The first thing we did was the Kilimanjaro Safari – a must to see some elephants!

disney

We did see some elephants (phew!) and plenty of other animals too…

disney

But the neatest part was when we were literally surrounded by giraffes and even had a giraffe meandering along the path in front of our jeep…as our driver said, we had a “giraffe-ic jam!”  hahaha.  I think doing it first thing in the morning before it got too hot was smart because all the animals were out to play!

After that we wandered around and checked out the park.  Pretty soon it was time to meet up with the cousins for a character lunch at Tusker House…

disney

The characters there were great and I loved the food too – lots of good indian and other cuisines.  yum.  Plus, they actually had PBJ and apple sauce which made my boys happy campers!

goofy

daisy

Spencey slept through most of lunch…

mickey

but did get to meet Mickey before we left!

mickey

So fun for all!

mickey

After lunch we walked around some more, checked out the monkeys…

monkeys

and then Robert and I got to ride the roller coaster Expedition Everest before leaving.  awesome!  🙂

We headed to the airport for a (thankfully) uneventful trip home.  I would like to officially thank the late, great Steve Jobs for inventing the iPads and making our travel bearable.

It was an exhaustingly great trip to WDW…can’t wait to go back!  🙂

More Disney!

By Saturday morning we had finally defrosted from our freezing cold Magic Kingdom adventure the day before and were ready to hit up Hollywood Studios in some new Mickey Mouse t-shirts!

disney

The boys, GJ and I got there early and made a beeline for Toy Story Mania!

disney

The sign said it would be over an hour wait but were were through the line and the ride within 25 minutes!  and we even got to wear cool 3D glasses!  🙂

toy story mania

A great start to a great day!  We met up with the cousins and Maxwell and Delaney basically did this all day…

disney

We had Fastpass tickets to go see the Disney Jr. Live on Stage show and it was great!  Our crew is a little obsessed with the Disney Jr. Gang – Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Handy Manny, Doc McStuffins and Jake and the Pirates to be specific – and they looooved getting to see them all live!

disney

disney

even Spencer was mesmerized and sat still! a miracle!

disney

We then had lunch reservations at Hollywood & Vine where we got to meet most of the Disney Jr. characters up close!  fun!  We met Dora…

dora

update – was just informed this is not Dora but someone named June from Little Einsteins. I clearly need to watch more Disney Jr.

We met whoever this guy is….

disney

We met Jake…

jake

and we met one of Maxwell’s favorites, Handy Manny! (if you’re the parent of a toddler you are now very likely singing the Handy Manny theme song in your head. I know I am. Handy Manny!)

handy manny

Spencer was pretty unsure of Jake…

jake

and very wary of Handy Manny!

handy manny

I can’t blame him.  I mean the guy thinks he has tools that talk for goodness sake!

After all the excitement, the boys thankfully did this for a bit so Robert and I could ride the Tower of Terror and the Rockin Roller Coaster!

naps

After lunch it was time to meet the mouse!  We had to wait but it wasn’t so bad because we had interesting people to look at.  Case in point, the guy behind us in line…

disney

oh  yea.

Maxwell couldn’t wait to see Mickey and wanted to give him a high five!

disney

Not sure he and Mickey ever actually got that five in but Maxwell was a happy camper!

mickey

disney

and, don’t worry, our “friend” in line got his turn with the Mouse too!

disney

ha!  You see all kinds at WDW!

We headed back to the hotel late that afternoon for an early dinner and spent a little time burning off some energy at the hotel playground…

disney

disney

It was a fun, fun, fun day for this crew…

disney

and for the parents too!  Believe or not, there is still MORE Disney to come!  You can hardly wait, I know…but you’ll have to wait until Monday for Animal Kingdom.  See you then!